Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke in the Sunday afternoon session of the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints October 6, 2024. He taught “The restored gospel of Jesus Christ, as the Prophet Joseph Smith taught, ‘embrace[s] all, and every item of truth.’ But that doesn’t mean that all truth is of equal value. Some truths are core, essential, at the root of our faith. Others are appendages or branches—valuable, but only when they are connected to the fundamentals.”
He continued “This is not to say that the branches are unimportant. A tree needs branches. But as the Savior told His disciples, ‘The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine.’ Without a connection to the Savior, to the nourishment found in the roots, a branch withers and dies.”
He went on to give examples of how connecting the branches of gospel truths to the Savior and his gospel (the roots) strengthens our testimony and commitment to those gospel truths.
I would like to add an example: If you are having trouble feeling the need to be prepared and self-reliant, try focusing on how it helps you serve others as Christ would serve them and how it can help you feel more connected to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
In 2007, The First Presidency wrote “Our Heavenly Father ….has lovingly commanded us to ‘prepare every needful thing’ (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others.”
Pres. Marion G. Romney, in his important and classic address “The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance,” taught “Without self-reliance one cannot exercise … innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse.”
Robert D. Hales stated “When we live providently, we can provide for ourselves and our families and also follow the Savior’s example to serve and bless others.”
David O. McKay made this observation:
“The development of our spiritual nature should concern us most. Spirituality is the highest acquisition of the soul, the divine in man; ‘the supreme, crowning gift that makes him king of all created things.’ It is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the infinite. It is spirituality alone which really gives one the best in life.
“It is something to supply clothing to the [poorly] clad, to furnish ample food to those whose table is thinly spread, to give activity to those who are fighting desperately the despair that comes from enforced idleness, but after all is said and done, the greatest blessings that will accrue … are spiritual. Outwardly, every act seems to be directed toward the physical; remaking of dresses and suits of clothes, canning fruits and vegetables, storing foodstuffs, choosing fertile fields for settlement—all seem strictly temporal, but permeating all these acts, inspiring and sanctifying them, is the element of spirituality.”Conference Report, October 1936.
It would be good to ask yourself why you prepare and why you seek to be more self-reliant. Is your answer based on strong roots or unconnected branches?
